suffice to have been in Mexico to understand
the country, which requires the most careful
and impartial study. Had the Mexicans and
strangers who formed her majesty's entourage
the courage to enlighten her on the subject?
We think not. A sovereign has little time for
such studies. What he hears is never the whole
truth. As regards the triumphal arches and
flowers strewn on the passage of kings and
queens, we know that they mean nothing, even
when the expense thereof is not defrayed by the
civic authorities. If the empress's illusions as
regards Mexico lasted till her departure, she is
not so culpable as some may suppose at this
side of the ocean. She speaks readily of the
general policy of Napoleon the Third, whom she
seems to admire. "I have heard her," says the
writer from whom we borrow this description,
"discuss all the European questions with a
calmness, lucidity, and impartiality perfectly
remarkable. Listening to her, I could forget her
age, her sex, her throne, fancying I was listening
to the Nestor of an intelligent and
enlightened policy. I can understand how that
high intelligence was upset. The continual
conspiracies, her journey to Paris, and her
interviews with the Holy Father, showed her the
real state of the new empire. The broken illusion
must necessarily have shaken the reason of
so rich a nature."

The late emperor is thus described:
"The Emperor Maximilian was of tall stature,
and well made. His features were expressive
of kindness combined with sovereign dignity.
In public, his majesty's affability charmed and
captivated all who came near him; in his own
house he was beloved by all. His voice was
agreeable, and his manners fascinating. Every
one who knew him admired him."

Maximilian ought to have governed instead
of allowing himself to be governed. Mexico
required the head and hand of a Cromwell.
French influence, which alone could have
supported the new government, was set aside as
soon as the emperor arrived. A man of liberal
ideas, and not knowing Mexico, he abandoned
the conservative party, who gave him the crown,
to make terms with the so-called liberals at the
cost of his first friends.

IN DIFFICULTIES. THREE STAGES.

SECOND STAGE. WHITECROSS-STREET.

AFTER I had been about a week in the
sponging-house at Bream's-buildings, I resolved
to remove to Whitecross-street prison. The
expenses of a prolonged residence at the former
place were more than I could bear, and it
was very uncertain whether I could get out of
prison, except by going through the
Bankruptcy Court: although the only pressing debt
I had was that of twenty odd pounds, for which
the tailor had locked me up. There were other
people to whom I was indebted. There was
still hanging over me the balance of a bill of
exchange which about a year before my marriage
I had backed for a friend, who had not only
failed to meet his engagement, but had failed in
business too. The original amount was one
hundred and twenty pounds, but I had paid off
half. Then there was a sum of fifty pounds owing
to an assurance-office to which I had been joint
security for my wife's brother, who had borrowed
the money to go out to New Zealand. Thus, I
owed altogether some three hundred and forty
pounds.

The moment it became known that I was in
difficulties, every person to whom I owed a
penny sent in a detainer against me. I tried
very hard to compromise, and proposed to pay
by quarterly instalments. I pointed out to my
creditors that, if I were kept in jail, my
employers must hear of it, and that then my dismissal
was certain; that if I lost my situation there
was nothing left for me but to go through
the Bankruptcy Court, and that if I did this
none of them would get a penny. Somehow
every creditor seemed to see the force of my
logic as regarded his neighbour, but not as
regarded himself. Each pressed hard for an
immediate settlement of his own claim, but
thought that the others might wait. In fact,
each hoped by frightening me to cause some
friend to come forward with help. But the
result was, that at the end of a week's confinement
in Bream's-buildings I was further off from
a settlement than when I went there. An old
lawyer, who was a fellow-sufferer in trouble,
strongly advised me to move to Whitecross-
street. "They will never believe you are in
earnest about going through the court so long
as you remain here," he said, "and, what is
more, they know the expenses you incur here,
and will always think you have friends behind
you while you pay them."

In seven days, at Bream's-buildings, my
expenses had been as follows:

As a commercial traveller, I can safely say
that the above sum would have kept me for
a fortnight at any of the best hotels in London
or the country. When the Paris correspondents
of our firm, Messrs. Boutemps, sent one of
their partner's sons over to London for a
week, during which time he remained at the
International Hotel, London-bridge, his bill—